Page 60 of The Rogue's Bride
His eyes snapped open. He stared up at Caitrin, but it was as if he wasn’t even seeing her.
“Alasdair?” Her voice rose in concern. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
Gradually, the wildness faded from his eyes. A moment later he focused upon her, and his face relaxed. “Did I wake ye?”
Caitrin’s mouth quirked. “Aye … and likely half the keep.”
He muttered a curse and closed his eyes, running a hand over his face. “Sorry … I have bad dreams sometimes.”
Caitrin watched him, her brow furrowing. “Since the battle?”
“Aye.”
Caitrin’s frown deepened. “Tell me of them.”
His eyes flickered open, and he cast her a pained look. “Ye don’t want to hear of such things.”
She huffed. “Let me be the judge of that.”
Alasdair heaved a deep breath and rolled over onto his side, facing her. “They’re always the same,” he began hesitantly. “I’m right back there in the mist and the mud. The English are running at me … like ghosts through the fog. All I can hear is the screams of men as they die … and I know I’ll fall soon, skewered on an English blade.”
Caitrin watched him steadily. “But ye didn’t.”
His mouth twisted. “Maybe I should have. I’ve not been right since, Caitrin. I jump at shadows, I can’t sleep, and sometimes my hands shake like I’m an old man. I might not look it, but I’m broken … on the inside where no one but ye can see.”
Caitrin’s breathing constricted at these words. She reached out, her hand clasping his. “I can’t imagine how ye must have felt,” she murmured. “How it must feel to see all those men fall around ye … but I don’t think ye are broken. Just like a wound to the body, this too will heal.”
He huffed, although his eyes glittered. “Will it?”
“Aye.” She squeezed his hand. “Ye won’t have to face it alone now.”
Their gazes met and held. His throat bobbed. “Are ye saying that ye—”
“Aye,” she cut him off with a wobbly smile. “I will wed ye, Alasdair MacDonald.”
He stared at her for a moment, before joy spread across his face, chasing away the lingering horror of his nightmare.
Alasdair reached for Caitrin. When their faces were just inches apart, he gave her a tender smile. His eyes shone with tears. “I meant what I said earlier,” he said softly, “about loving and cherishing ye to my dying breath. All I’ve ever wanted is ye, Caitrin, and yet all I’ve done of late is make ye suffer. I want to make it up to ye … but I don’t know where to begin.”
Caitrin stared back at him, before a slow answering smile curved her lips. Reaching up she traced his lower lip with her fingertip. “Ye can start by making love to me again,” she whispered. Her cheeks flushed at her own boldness, but she didn’t stop.
Instead, she let her hand travel down his jawline and neck to his chest. Her fingers then slid down the taut plane of his stomach, before they wrapped around his shaft. It pulsed in her hand, hot and hard, straining toward her. “After that we shall see.”
Chapter Twenty-seven
Forgiveness
“THIS IS UNEXPECTED.” Malcolm MacLeod viewed Alasdair and Caitrin with a jaundiced eye, before his gaze shifted to the three men who also stood in his solar: Gavin MacNichol, Ross Campbell, and Fergus MacKay. “Do any of ye have anything to say about this?”
A heavy silence filled the solar, broken only by the patter of rain against the shutters. The bad weather had settled in, turning the world grey and misty. The huge hearth to Alasdair’s left roared this morning, throwing out much needed heat. A great stag’s head mounted above the fire glared down at the chamber’s occupants.
MacNichol broke the silence first. “I have no objection,” he said, his mouth quirking into a rueful smile. “Who am I to stand between two lovers?”
Alasdair met his eye, and a look passed between the two men.
Next to MacNichol, Campbell wore an inscrutable expression, although his gaze was hard. “I’ve nothing to say,” he said tersely, casting MacLeod an irritated look. “Other than ye have wasted my time.”
MacLeod’s heavy brow furrowed. “I didn’t know MacDonald had an interest.” He cast Alasdair an accusing look then. “Why didn’t ye tell me ye wanted to wed my daughter?”
